Internal combustion engine



AUS. 5, 1935. A. s. MARTIN 2,010,028

INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE Filed Dec. 26, 1950 www Patented Aug. 6, 1935 Y T UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE Arthur Seymon Martin, Amarillo, Tex.

Application December 26, 1930, Serial No. 504,764

16 Claims. (Cl. 123-191) This invention relates to improvements in inbe illustrated in the drawing and described hereternal combustion engines and has reference more in. particularly to an improved method of exploding Having thus briefly described the invention, fuel mixtures and to an improved form of co-mthe same will no`W be described in detail and n bustion chamber which is so designed and conreference for this purpose will now be had to f 5 Structed that a very high ratio of compression the accompanying drawing in which the preferred can be employed without any objectionable efembodiment of the invention has been illustrated, fects resulting from the detonation of the fuel and in which: T l utilized in operating the engine. Fig. 1 is a section through the upper end of an lIn internal combustion engines ofthe type now engine cylinder constructed Yin accordance with 10 `in most general use, the gaseous fuel `mixture my invention;

is rst compressed and then ignited by a spark Fig. 2 is a section taken on line 2 2, Fig. 1; produced by a spark plug located within the Fig. 3 isasection taken on line 3 3, Fig.2; combustion chamber. The propagation of the Fig. 4 is a section corresponding to the one ilame extends more or less uniformly in every dishown in Fig. l and shows my invention applied 15 rection from the spark plug, and the pressure of to a valve in head engine; and i i l the explosive mixture is raised by the heat gen- Fig. 5 shows a slightly modified form of conerated by the flame as this progresses. It is evistruction employed in connection with large dent, therefore, that the pressure under which engines.

the combustion takes place is greater in the more In the drawing numeral I represents the cyl- 20 distant portions of the combustion chamber than inder wall of an internal combustion engine, in the portions adjacent to spark plugs. and 2 the piston, while reference numeral 3 invHydrocarbons are susceptible to detonation dicates one of the valves that controls the enunder certain conditions of temperature and prestrance and exit from the combustion chamber.

sure, and the constant increase of temperature The upper end of the cylinder is closed by means 25 and pressure that takes place as the flame proof a cylinder head 4 that is held in place by bolts gresses produces a detonation, if the initial comin the usual manner. The cylinder head is of a pression is above a certain value. peculiar construction which will now be de- The efficiency of internal combustion engines scribed. The primary combustion chamber `has increases with the increase of the compression been designated by reference numeral 5 and is 30` ratio, but if this is made too high'with respect smaller than usual due to the fact that the ento the properties of the fuel, detonation will ocgine constructed in accordance with my invencur and therefore high compression ratios cannot tion has a higher compression ratio than the be used, nor ,the best thermal efficiencies obordinary internal combustion engine. The comtained. bustion chamber 5 is in communication with a 35 `In order to make it practical to employ higher secondary combustion or detonation chamber 6 compression ratios, efforts have been made to through a passageway 1. The detonation chamelimnate detonation by using special designs for ber shown is small compared to the primary comthe combustion chambers and/ or by special treatbustion chamber 5 and the ratio between the sizes 40 ment of the fuel for the purpose of modifying its of these two chambers depends on the compres- 4o chemical structure. sion ratio employed and the character of the I have discovered that ordinary hydrocarbon fuel. A spark plug 8 is provided in the cylinder fuel can be successfully employed in engines havhead and is located on the opposite side of the ing high compression ratios if the latter are so piston from that of the opening 1.

constructed that detonation can take place with- Let us now assume that the engine has oper- 45' out the production of harmful effects. ated to draw in a charge of fuel mixture and My invention,K briefly described, consists in prohas compressed the same and that the piston is viding the combustion chamber of the engine located in the position shown in Fig. l in which with a secondary or detonating chamber, usually position the charge is compressed to the maxiv of smaller size, and connected with the primary mum amount. With theparts in the position 50 chamber by a passageway of small cross-sectional shown in Fig. l, the charge is ignited by means area, and in which the fuelmiXture may detonate of a spark plug. The iiame spreads spherically without causing any harmful effects. The secfrom the point where the sparkis located and as ondary or detonation chamber must occupy a the flame spreads the pressure in the combusposition with respect to the spark vplug which will tion chamber is increased and therefore the pres- 55,

sure under which the gas burns increases towards the sides of the combustion chamber and if the initial compression is above a predetermined Value, the pressure will soon attain such an intensity that part of the gas will detonate, causing the engine to knock and thereby interfering with the proper operation of the engine.

In the construction shown in Figs. 1 and 2, a secondary combustion chamber t has been provided and this is connected with the primary combustion chamber by means of a passage of a restricted area. When the charge is compressed, a portion thereof will pass into the secondary combustion chamber and after the charge has been ignited an additional large quantity will be forced thereinto in advance of the name, and the pressure of the gas inside of this detonation chamber will increase. Since the compression ratio employed is quite large, the pressure oi' the gas in chamber 6 may become so high that it will detonate when ignited. The detonated gas from chamber 6 will pass into the primary combustion chamber through the passage 'i and this passage is so designed that it will direct the stream of gas across the primary combustion chamber in such a way that it will distribute the additional pressure almost uniformly over the piston, thereby preventing knocks and other injurious effects from being produced. It is essential that the passageway l shall. be properly proportioned so as to restrict the outow of the high pressurek gases to such an extent that no injurious effects will be produced, and at the same time this passageway should be large enough to permit the gas to enter quite freely with the result that both before the gas is ignited, and also at the instant the flame enters the detonation chamber, the pressures in the primary and detonation chambers are substantially alike. The opening 'l may be inclined upwardly in a slight degree so as to direct the issuing gas across the primary combustion chamber and thereby assist in producing uniform distribution of the pressure. From Fig. 2 it will be seen that this opening is curved laterally so as to be somewhat funnel-shaped and this also'helps to distribute the pressure, and at the same time, it prevents pressure pockets from being formed during the compression. If there were square corners in the primary combustion chamber instead of rounded walls as shown, some of the gas would be compressed into these corners or pockets during the combustion period, and these gas pockets would then detonate within the primary combustion chamber, but with the curved sides as shown, the gas will be moved forwardly by the pressure of the burned area of the gas and transferred to the detonating chamber, thereby preventing detonation from gas located in the primary combustion chamber.

From the above description it will be seen that in accordance with my invention, no attempt is made to prevent detonation of the gas, but means is provided whereby the gas may detonate Without producing any injurious effects and this result is obtained by providing a separate chamber that is connected with the primary combustion chamber by a narrow passage which is located on the opposite side thereof from that of the spark plug. The detonation chamber may be cooled by Water jacketing or by other means.

In Figs. 1 and 2 the invention has been illustrated in connection with an L construction of engine in which the valves are located to one sidevof the cylinder. A large number of engines are made with the valves located directly above the piston and are of the type referred to as valve in head engines. I have illustrated in Fig. 4 another construction, which might also be used in this type of engine. With this construction I provide two detonation chambers, one near each side of the cylinder, or on opposite sides of the primary combustion chamber. These should, of course, be smaller for the same size of engine than when only a single detonation chamber is used. It is obvious, in this type of construction where there are two detonation chambers employed, that the spark plug (not shown) should be located approximately midway between them, or, two spark plugs might iire simultaneously, one located in front of this center position, and one to the rear of it.

For very large engines I prefer to employ a construction lilre that shown in Fig. 5 in which the detonation chamber is connected with the primary combustion chamber through a passageway l of comparatively large area. In order to restrict the area of the opening l after the detonation has taken place, I provide a valve having a stern il and a valve head lli. The valve head is normally located in the opening l' in the manner shown, but when the gases are compressed, it can move inwardly to the dotted line position, thereby permitting free entrance to the gases and in. this way the pressure within the detonation chamber will be substantially the same as in the primary combustion chamber. When the detonation has taken place and the gases are escaping from the detonation chamber, they will pass around the edges of the valve il) which restrict the ow of gas to such an extent that no excessive and sudden pressures are developed in the primary combustion chamber. The valve lil is held in the position shown in Fig. 5 by tWo springs ll and l2 that engage a collar i3 secured to the valve stem. These two springs permit the valve to move noiselessly in either direction. The opening through the wall of the detonation chamber is provided with proper packing glands, not shown, and means is also preferably provided for cooling the valve stem so as to prevent this from being unduly heated.

While the valve is shown normally coming to rest inside the passageway, the springs might instead be constructed to bring it to rest normally at the dotted position or else at a point between the two positions shown. rIhe detonating gas would then move the valve into the passageway thereby partially closing it, while the compressed gas during the compression stroke of the engine would move the valve over into the dotted position.

From the above description it will be apparent that I have produced an internal combustion engine of such construction that very high compression ratios can be employed and in which the gases can detonate without causing any injurious effects.

I want to call particular attention to the fact that the construction shown and described is not intended to prevent detonation, but merely to prevent injurious effects from detonation, and it is therefore possible to employ very high com pression ratios in connection with ordinary fuel because the compression ratios that otherwise would be prohibitive due to detonation can be safely employed in this construction which allows detonation to take place with advantageous rather than objectionableresults.

The method and apparatus described above is suitable for all forms of internal combustion engines and is especially useful in connection with engines of the compression ignition type.

Having described the invention what is claimed asnew is: 1. An internal combustion engine having cylinder in which a piston is mounted for reciprocation, the upper end of the cylinder being in communication with a primary combustion chamber, a spark plug located within the combustion chamber to one side of the center of the cylinder, there being a secondary combustion chamber in communication with the primary combustion chamber by a passageway of restricted arca, the passageway opening into the primary chamber adjacent the wall of the cylinder farthest from the spark plug.

2. An internal combustion engine having cylinder in. which a piston is mounted for reciprocation, the upper end of the cylinder being in open communication with a primary combustion chamber, a spark plug located within the combustion chamber, there being a secondary combustion chamber in communication with the primary combustion chamber by a passageway, the passageway opening into the primary chamber adj acent the side of the cylinder farthest from the spark plug, and there being a valve provided which operates to partially close the communicating passageway between the two chambers when detonation takes place in the second chamber.

3. A device for `preventing injurious effects from the detonation of gas in the operation of an internal combustion engine lcomprising a two compartment combustion chamber, one compartment being directly connected with the engine cylinder and the other compartment being connec-ted with the rst by a passageway of small transverse area and ignition means located within the iirst compartment and spaced from the passageway a distance approximately equal to the maximum dimension ofthe rst compartment.

4. A device for preventing injurious efects from the detonation or gas in the operation of an internal combustion engine comprising a two compartment combustion chamber, one cornpartment being directly connected with the engine cylinder and a second compartment being connected with the iirst compartment by a passageway, there being provided a valve which operates to partially close this passageway when detonation takes place in the second compartment, and ignition means located within the first compartment and spaced from the passageway a distance substantially greater than the radius of the cylinder. v

5. A. device for preventing injury due to the detonation of gas in the operation of internal combustion engines having a cylinder and a reciprocating piston comprising a detonation chamber connected with the combustion chamber by means of a passage of small transverse area, whose axis is substantially perpendicular to the axes oi the cylinder, and an ignition means 1ocated within the combustion chamber and spaced from the point where the passage opens thereinto a distance approximately equal to the maximum dimension of the combustion chamber.

6. An internal combustion engine having a cylinder in which a piston is mounted for reciprocation, the upper end of the cylinder being in open communication with or forming a primarychamber, a secondary chamber in which combustion takes place connected with the primary chamber by a passageway, a valve which can partially close the passageway, means for injecting fuel into' the secondary chamber at the end of the compression stroke, means for igniting the compressed charge, and means' for operating the valve to partially close the passageway near the end of the compression stroke.

'7. An internal combustion engine having, a cylinder, 'a piston mounted for reciprocation therein, a cylinder head having a combustion chamber which forms van extension to one end of the cylinder, the cylinder head having a detonation chamber located entirely to one side of the cylinder` and which is in communication with the combustion chamber through a passageway of small transverse area, and spark ignition means located in the combustion chamber near the opposite side thereof from the passageway.

8. A device for obtaining power from an explosive gaseous mixture, comprising an internal combustion engine containing a plurality ci combustion chambers, one of which is larger than the others and which is in direct communication with the engine cylinder, and the others of which are connected with the rst one by passageways provided with valves which will partially close the passageways whenever substantially greater pressure is produced suddenly in the chambers that are not in. direct communication with the engine cylinder, and ignition means located in such positio-n within the first chamber that combustion will consume the charge therein without developing a pressure that will produce detonation within that chamber.

9. An internal combustion engine having ineens for prei-venting injury due to detonation ci gases, comprising a cylinder block having a cylindrical .opening for the reception of a piston, a piston mounted to reciprocate in the'opening, a removable cylinder head for closing one end oi the opening to complete a combustion chamber, the wall of the cylinder head having a cavity forming a detonationchamber, the cavity being closed except for a passageway of small transverse area which connects it with the combustion chamber, the passageway being oi such limited capacity for the conveyance of gases as to preclude injury to the piston or other parts located within the combustion chamber when a charge of fuel detonates in the detonation chamber, the passageway opening into the combustion chamber at one side thereof, and a spark plug located in the combustion chamber and spaced from the entrance of the passageway a distance greater than onehalf the major dimension of the combustion f chamber.

10. An internal combustion engine having means for preventing injury to the parts thereof due to the detonation of gas during the operation, comprising a cylinder block having a cylindrical opening for the reception of a piston, a piston mounted for reciprocation in the opening, a cylinder head for closing one end of the opening to form a combustion chamber, the w-all of the cylinder head having a detonation chamber consisting of a cavity closed except for a passageway of small transverse area which connects it with the combustion chamber, no part of the piston or other delicate engine member being within the detonation chamber or extending far into the passageway, ignition means located within the combustion chamber at a point adjacent the side of the combustion chamber opposite from the passage whereby substantially all of the gases in the combustion chamber will burn before the iiame enters the detonation chamber, the passage, preferably, expanding smoothly into a conical shape where it merges with and becomes part Yof the combustion chamber whereby no obstructing shoulders are left in this portion of the combustion chamber, the other end of the passageway, preferably, opening abruptly and sharply into the ldetonation chamber.

ll. The method of producing power from an explosive gaseous mixture consisting in compressing the charge to a relatively high initial pressure, igniting this compressed charge and permitting it to burn, segregating during the process of compression the parts of the charge which might develop detonation from those which would undergo normal burning, allowing the high-pressure products of the detonation combustion to mix with the other portion of burned g-ases of lower pressure with suicient retardation to preclude all violence which might otherwise be created, and then extracting energy from the resulting mixture of high-pressure products of combustion.

12. The method of compressing and exploding a gaseous mixture which consists in compressing the gas to such a degree into two communicating charges that when one of these is ignited it will burn without detonation while the other charge will detonate when the iiame advances into it from the rst one.

13. The method of detonationcontrol for acombustible gaseous mixture where parts of it undergo normal burning while other portions burn with detonation which consists in entrapping every particle of gas that undergoes the detonation type of combustion and then gradually liberating this to flow into the other burned gases over a suiiicient period of time to insure the creation of no vicious reactions within the latter.

14. A device for preventing injurious effects from the detonation of gas in the operation of an internal combustion engine, comprising a two compartment combustion chamber, one of which is larger than the other and in direct communication with the engine cylinder and the other compartment of which is smaller and connected with the larger compartment by a restricted passageway of such transverse area that gases can flow rather freely from the larger into the smaller compartment during the compression stroke of the engine but which will eiectively retard the ow from the small chamber into the large one when a high pressure is developed in the small chamber due to detonation of the gases therein. i

15. A device for producing power from the explosion of a gaseous mixture which comprises, means for compressing the gas into a plurality of interconnected charges, one of which is larger than the others, the pressure being less than that which will produce detonation of the large charge when it is ignited, means for igniting the largest charge at a point substantially equidistant from each of the others whereby the flame will reach the other charges substantially at the same time, means for retarding the rate of flow `of the gases from the smaller charges into those o-f the large charge whereby energy will be extracted from the products of combustion of the smaller charges only after they have become mixed with the products of combustion of the large charge.

16. In an internal combustion engine, in cornbination, a cylinder having a two-part combustion chamber, one of which is larger than the other and in direct communication with the cylinder of the engine, the smaller combustion chamber being connected with the larger through a passageway of restricted transverse area, the transverse area of the passage being such that gas will iiow freely into the small compartment during the compression stroke, but will be suiiiciently retarded in its ow from the small chamber to the large one when detonation takes place in the smaller chamber to prevent injury to the engine which would otherwise result from the o sudden increase in pressure due to detonation.

ARTHUR SEYMON MARTIN. 

